Never Accept A Sword From Strangers
by flikaroo
Summary: What if the sword the Shredder gave Leonardo really did have mind control? Some alternate scenes for the 2003 episode, The Shredder Strikes Part I.
1. Gift

**A/N: I was re-watching the first season for the 2003 series when this plot bunny hit me. What if the sword the Shredder gave Leonardo really did have mind control? This is my first fanfiction story. If I am doing something wrong please let me know.**

**Disclaimer: I really wish I did, but until my wish comes true, I do not own the turtles.**

**And now without further delay.**

**Never Accept A Sword From Strangers**

* * *

Leonardo returned to the rooftops after his secret meeting with Oroku Saki. The blue banded turtle slowly rotated the centuries old katana in his hands as he admired the sword. "This is beautiful." Before he could say anything else Leonardo was interrupted by the sounds of three figures approaching.

"Leonardo, you've got some splainin to do." Michelangelo mocked in his best Ricky Ricardo impression.

"Nice letter opener, is that the price of selling out these days?" Raphael bitterly asked.

"No, it's not what you think." Leonardo remarked as he gripped the sword handle tightly. "Master Saki just suggested that we should join forces to fight a greater evil."

"Master Saki, what's up with that?" Raphael retorted as he pushed his brother.

"I thought we already had a Master, _Master Splinter._" Donatello emphasized.

Uncrossing his arms Michelangelo joined in on the discussion. "Master Splinter, remember him Leo? Real hairy guy, about this tall? I don't think we can just ditch him."

Leonardo felt his heart beat quicken as he gripped the sword hilt until his knuckles turned white. Unbeknownst to the turtles a red light started to blink on the tip of the sword's hilt. Leo's thoughts were becoming jumbled and he was starting to panic. _Master Splinter, Master Saki, wait, who is my Master? Splinter or Saki? And why are they ganging up on me? I wasn't talking about ditching anybody. But maybe I should? Maybe I should be ditching these guys!_ In the darkness a voice was answering him but it was too faint and he could not hear the words.

The three masked turtles continued to approach their brother, who was now standing stock still, painfully gripping the hilt of the old katana. The very tip of the katana's hilt continued to blink.

Raphael took a step closer to Leonardo, aggressively reaching for the sword. "What does this thing have, some kind of mind control?"

Leonardo was no longer starting to panic, now he **was **panicking. His breath came in short gasps, adrenaline began coursing through his veins and then the voice inside his head suddenly became crystal clear. _I am your Master, flee from these turtles. Come to me Leonardo. Join your Master. Return to Master Saki._

"No, you cannot have it," he growled, swinging the sword in a wide arc to stop Raphael's advances.

"Leo, what the shell has gotten into you?!" he sputtered, surprised at Leonardo's sudden reaction as he jumped backwards from the blade, years of ninja training kicking in automatically.

Donatello tensed when the sword struck out into the empty space where his older brother was standing mere seconds before. Looking at his eldest brother he noticed the beads of sweat on his brow and his shortened breaths. He began analyzing the situation. S_omething is not right here. _But the purple banded turtle couldn't place his finger on what the problem was.

"Bro, what are you doing?" Michelangelo cried out as he also tensed when the sword cut into open space. His eyes followed the sword in his eldest brother's hands. _What is so special about this sword?_

And before anyone could react further, Leonardo back flipped over the side of the roof. When the three brothers ran and peered over the edge, he was already gone.

* * *

**A/N: So is that sword really controlling Leo's mind? **


	2. Voices

**A/N: I'm still wishing the turtles were yet my wishes are still unfulfilled. Until then, the turtles are not mine.**

* * *

Leonardo ran across the rooftops, sticking to the shadows in case the three turtles decided to follow him. He wasn't sure why he was running away from them. But he continued to run anyway. One mile turned into two, then two miles turned into three, and soon stealth was long forgotten as he continued to pump his legs faster and faster. The voice that started as a whisper in the back of his mind growing louder and louder with each passing rooftop.

Leonardo did not know where he was going or when he would stop running. In fact the only thing the blue banded turtle knew for certain, was that he was very, very confused. _Master Splinter? Or Master Saki? Master Saki spoke of a great evil. And the only thing standing in it's way is his humble army of foot ninja. And what of those turtles? Are they the great evil Saki is fighting against? I fought them this morning and defeated them all. But Master Splinter then defeated me with a simple wooden walking stick. Clearly I cannot stand up to him on my own. And if the turtles are with him, then I'm going to need Master Saki's help to defeat them. _

Exhaustion finally caught up to the confused turtle, making him stop his haphazard dash across the city's rooftops. Leonardo dropped to his knees. Clutching his head he let out a cry of anguish as confusion continued to race around in his mind. _ Argh! What do I do? Where do I go? Who is my Master and who is the enemy? _Leonardo started rocking back and forth on his knees as he tried to sort through his thoughts._ I am so confused! _

His eyes fell upon the fallen sword in front of him, the centuries old katana Master Saki gave him. _This sword really is beautiful. And Master Saki gave it to me. He understands how important swords are to me._ Leonardo leapt to his feet, drawing the two katanas from his back. He glanced at the two swords in his hands. _Master Splinter, he just doesn't understand how important these swords are to me. I just…don't…get it. _

Frustrated Leonardo took a few angry swipes into the empty air with the katanas before he sheathed the swords onto his back. He bent to pick up the third sword. When he grabbed the hilt he let out a hiss as a mild shock ran up his arm. Suddenly the voice in his head was crystal clear. _Your Master is Master Saki. And you are fighting with his foot ninjas against a great evil. _Leonardo slipped the third sword into his belt and took off once again across the rooftops.

TMNTTMNT

For a brief second, the three turtles stood as still as three statues, a look of shock on each of their faces. Michelangelo was the first to break the silence, "Dudes, um…what just happened?"

Donatello was the second turtle to break the silence, shaking his head as he answered. "I don't know Mikey."

"Who cares, we have to go after him." Raphael growled in response as he turned to chase after Leonardo.

He was stopped by Donatello's hand on his bicep. "Wait Raph, if we chase after Leo now, we are just going to make thing worse."

Michelangelo agreed with his purple banded brother. "Yeah, did you guys see how he was acting? It was like he didn't even know who we were."

Raphael was losing his patience as he argued with his two younger brothers. "We can't just leave Leo on his own, racing around the city."

"And we can't go chasing after Leo until we know what's going on. If we follow him now we could make things worse and end up chasing him all over the city." Donatello insisted as he turned to head towards the lair. "Come on, we have to do what we should have done in the beginning."

"And what's that genius?" Raphael spat as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Without looking back Donatello called over his shoulder. "Go talk to Master Splinter."

Raphael looked back to where Leonardo had run off mere moments earlier. He didn't want to leave his older brother confused and alone but he couldn't find fault with Donnie's suggestion. With an agitated growl he proceeded to follow his younger brothers back to the lair.

TMNTTMNT

Splinter knew something was wrong before his sons entered the lair. He opened his eyes, breaking his meditation and rose to greet his sons.

The look on their faces confirmed his suspicions, something was clearly wrong. Then he realized that he only saw three faces staring back at him. "My sons, where is Leonardo?"

The three brothers gave each other a questioning glance before dropping to their knees and bowing their heads as a sign of respect to their sensei and father. Donatello was the first to speak.

"We followed Leo after he left the lair. He fought some foot ninja and then we saw him talking to a man in white robes. We couldn't hear what they talked about but he gave Leo a really old katana."

Donatello's recap was interrupted by a frustrated Raphael. "I tried to grab the sword away from him and he attacked us and then just ran off. I wanted to follow him but genius over here stopped me. He could be anywhere in the city by now."

Splinter sat in silence for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. It just had to be him. And his sons had the right to know what happened. They needed to know who oversaw the foot ninja and what Oroku Saki really was.

Splinter began to tell his sons about his Master Yoshi. How Master Saki, aka the Shredder, and his foot ninja killed his Master Yoshi after he would not tell them information about their enemy. By the time Splinter had finished, the three turtles were in agreement with their sensei. The Shredder is great evil and must be stopped.

Michelangelo was growing increasingly worried about his eldest brother throughout the entire tale and could no longer keep quiet. "What are we going to do about Leo?"

Donatello rose to his feet as he mused out loud. "Well, finding him will be easy enough. We can use the signal from his shell cell to track him. But his state of mind is another matter."

"Yeah, Leo wasn't himself when he ran off." Raphael snorted in agreement. "He kept talking about Master Saki this and Master Saki that."

"It's the sword!" Michelangelo exclaimed as he jumped up and down. "Dudes, did you guys see the red blinking light on the hilt? Leo started to act out once he got that sword from the Shredder! All we have to do is get the sword away from Leo and he will go back to normal! And we have to make sure we don't touch it either otherwise we could also fall under the mind control!"

Both brother's eyes grew wide as they turned to look at their youngest sibling. Was Mikey right? Was the sword the problem? Well, it certainly was feasible that the sword was somehow trying to control Leonardo's thoughts. After all, he didn't start to act strange until after he got that sword from the Shredder. No the issue was what they were going to have to do about it. Clearly their littlest brother was not thinking things through before he spoke.

"You want us…to get a sword…Away. From. Leo?" Raphael was incredulous at his youngest brother. "And just how do you expect us to do that? This is Leonardo. Sword master extraordinaire. He would never just hand over one of his swords just because we asked pretty please."

Donatello's eyes grew wide as an idea popped into his head. Interrupting his older brother's rant he started running towards his laboratory as he spoke. "No, Raph, but I have an idea that just might work."

* * *

**A/N: I wonder what Donnie's planning.**


	3. Tackle

**A/N: I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish upon a star tonight. I keep wishing, but the turtles are still not mine. Stubborn wishing stars. **

* * *

The closer Leonardo got to the warehouse where Master Saki gave him the sword, the harder it became for him to keep moving forward. Something about what he was doing just didn't feel…right_. Why am I hesitating? I'm with Master Saki and we are going to fight a great evil. So why does this seem wrong? What am I missing?_

Now only a few blocks away from his destination Leonardo let out a loud cry as he once again grabbed his head and dropped to his knees. The voice in his head that kept repeating that Master Saki was his master was now competing with another voice. A voice that kept calling him his son. _ My son, let your brothers help you. Return to us my son. Fight the Shredder. _

Leonardo started to grind his teeth together as he grew even more confused. _The Shredder?_ _Who the shell is the Shredder? _The voice in his head grew louder. _The Shredder is Master Saki. Listen to me my son, let go of the sword. Leonardo you must be strong. Your brothers are trying to help you. Let them help you._

Suddenly Leonardo's head snapped up as he tensed, feeling a presence among the shadows. He rose to his feet and looked around. Slowly withdrawing the sword from his belt, three figures melted out of the shadows. The three turtles began to warily circle the armed turtle but did not immediately withdraw their own weapons.

Michelangelo walked into the light first and began to plead with his oldest brother. "Leo you've gotta listen to us bro, let go of the sword."

Leonardo's eyes focused on the orange banded turtle. "No, Master Saki gave me this sword. He knows how important swords are to me. We are going to fight a greater evil together."

Michelangelo slowly approached his brother with his hands out stretched. "No bro, Master Splinter told us about Master Saki. Master Saki is the Shredder and he is the great evil. We need to fight him, together."

Raphael noticed the sweat begin to pool on his brother's brow and his quickened breaths as he gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. He snuck a glance at Donatello out of the corner of his eye, who was trying to stick to the shadows behind Leo.

Trying to keep his confused brother distracted, Raphael reached for his sais as he threatened. "Listen to me Fearless, you are giving us that sword, one way or the other."

Leonardo's eyes hardened as he glanced from one turtle to the other. "No. I will not."

Michelangelo started swirling his nunchaku as he adjusted his stance for an offensive strike but was beaten to it by Raphael. The red masked turtle lunged at Leonardo, attempting to knock the sword out of his grip. With his back now turned to Michelangelo, the orange masked turtle charged, hoping to tackle his older brother to the ground.

Leonardo didn't even look over his shoulder as he ducked a second swing from Raphael and then back flipped over Michelangelo's body. As he flew over the charging turtle he kicked him on the shell giving enough momentum to cause Michelangelo and Raphael to collide.

Landing on his feet Leonardo turned to face the two turtles. "No, get away from me. You cannot have my sword."

Michelangelo leapt to his feet first and once again swirled his nunchaku as he attacked. Normally Mikey would be taunting his opponent and having a grand ol' time doing so. But this time he wasn't joking around. Whenever they sparred in the dojo, Leonardo usually came out the winner. And that was when they were just sparring against him.

But now, they were actually fighting against Leo. And they were trying not to hurt Leo while also attempting to knock a sword out of his hands, without touching it themselves. _And_ to do all of this without hurting him. But nothing was stopping Leonardo from hurting them. And with the way his eldest brother was glaring at him right now, one of them was going to walk away from this fight with injuries.

Raphael rejoined Mikey in battling his brother as he yelled. "Donnie, anytime now!" Donatello was frantically rummaging through his brown bag, muttering to himself.

Michelangelo and Raphael continued their offensive strikes against their brother who still did not seem to notice Donatello in the shadows.

Back at the lair Splinter was deep in his meditation as he continued to try and get through to his confused son. _My son, stop fighting your brothers. Drop the sword._

Leonardo was losing his self control. He was being attacked both on the inside and on the out. It was becoming harder and harder to focus. The voices in his head were really starting to distract him from the fight in front of him. And everyone was telling him to drop his swords.

_I just don't get it. No one understands how important these swords are to me. _Leonardo continued to lash out against his two brothers with the sword. _Why won't everybody leave me alone?_ _I just need time to think! I need to get out of here!_

Leonardo overpowered his two brothers and with a kick to the chest sent each one flying across the rooftop.

Sensing that Leonardo was going to flee from them again, Raphael cried out. "Donnie!"

"Got it!" Donatello yelped triumphantly as he pulled out a device from his brown bag of tricks. Raphael kicked Leo in the plastron, pushing him closer to Donatello. He jumped out of the shadows and pressed a button on the device in his hands as he touched it to the back of Leo's neck.

An electrical surge flew through Leonardo's body, causing him to yelp in pain as he dropped the sword. Donatello kicked the sword out of the way as Leonardo tackled his second youngest brother. "You cannot have my sword!"

"Guys grab that sword!" Donatello yelled at his brothers as he struggled against his enraged brother. Leonardo knocked the air out of his brother's lungs and turned to lunge for the sword.

As Leonardo dove for the sword, Michelangelo lunged for his brother. He apologized as he used the end of his nunchaku to whack his brother in the forehead knocking him out, cold. "Sorry bro."

Catching his now unconscious brother into his arms Mikey kicked the sword over to Donatello.

Donatello pried off the red blinking light from the hilt of the sword with a pair of tweezers. He briefly examined it and then stepped on it, hard, to crush it. "Well, that should do it."

Raphael turned and addressed the group as he placed his sais back into his belt. "Good, let's get Leo back to the lair."

* * *

**A/N: So the brothers have succeeded in getting the sword away from Leo. I wonder how he'll feel about that when he wakes up.**


	4. Returned

**A/N: Glaring at the night sky. That stubborn wishing star, is still not granting me ownership of the turtles. Sigh.**

* * *

Leonardo's head was pounding. It felt as if tiny miners with pick axes were drilling away in his head. Letting out a groan, he slowly opened his eyes. He heard someone shift next to him and looked for the source of the sound.

Placing a hand on his brother's shoulder Raphael smiled. "Hey Fearless. Welcome back."

"Raph?" He croaked out as he started to sit up, reaching for his head. "Wow, my head is killing me. What happened?"

Raphael let out a chuckle. "Yeah that's what happens when you get clocked in the head by Mikey's nunchaku."

"Where are my swords?"

Leonardo noticed his brother tense up at the question. He didn't understand why he would react like that to such a simple question. Unless something happened to his swords? Oh no, not his beloved swords! But before he could answer two more brothers walked into the room.

Mikey ran over first with Donatello close behind him. "Leo!"

With a small smile Leonardo swung his legs over the side of the bed and started to stand. "Hey guys."

Warm brown eyes looked into his own as gentle hands pushed him back on to the cot. "Not so fast Leo. How are you feeling?"

Donatello had shifted into Doctor Don mode as he began to examine his patient. Leonardo knew he wasn't going anywhere until his brother was satisfied that he was ok. But that didn't stop him from trying again anyway. Two hands pushed him back onto the bed when he tried once again to stand.

"I'm fine Donnie, really. I just have a headache."

"Even so, let's take this slow. Tell me Leo, what do you remember?"

Sitting back down Leonardo opened his mouth to speak, and then promptly closed it. Now that he thought about, he didn't exactly remember how he had gotten into Donnie's laboratory. Actually, now that he was trying, he didn't remember anything since that morning's practice.

"I remember us sparring earlier. And arguing over who had the best weapons. But anything after that is coming up a complete blank. Did I pass out when we were sparring?"

As Donatello finished examining his patient, satisfied that Leonardo was ok except for some memory loss, Splinter walked into the room. He had overhead Leonardo's question.

"No my son, but we have much to discuss. Come."

TMNTTMNT

The four turtles were sitting on the floor of the dojo in front of Master Splinter. Embarrassed by what he had done to his brothers and what he had just learned about Master Saki aka The Shredder, Leonardo sighed. "Man I am such an idiot."

Michelangelo elbowed him in the arm with a smile. "I could've told you that. But it wasn't all your fault bro."

Donatello agreed. "Yeah, you've been played bro. He saw you coming a mile away and tried to take advantage of it."

Looking for payback Raphael asked the group. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Leonardo smacked his fist into his open palm as his eyes hardened. "I think we should give the Shredder a little payback, turtle style."

* * *

**A/N: This was the fourth and final chapter for my little side scene for the 2003 episode, The Shredder Strikes, Part I. If you are familiar with that episode, you'll notice the ending narrative is very similar to the episode. Thank you for reading and taking the time to review. Reviews keep me motivated and I'm already working on a Mikey oneshot that I hope to post soon.**


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